Merrill Lynch Loses Managing Directors to These Rivals

Wirehouse Merrill Lynch has lost two experienced managing directors in recent weeks to Deutsche BankWealth Management and Rockefeller Capital Management.

Michael Rogers is joining Deutsche Bank’s wealth management operations as West Coast head and managing director, the company says in a press release.

He’ll be tasked with overseeing the division’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices and growing its presence on the West Coast, Deutsche Bank says.

Rogers was previously a regional managing director at Merrill Lynch for the Mountain West Region, according to the press release. In his more than 25 years in wealth management, Rogers also had stints at Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, Deutsche Bank says.

And Rockefeller Capital Management, led by Gregory Fleming, a former president at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, has poached another managing director from one of Fleming’s alma maters.

Michael Armondo will join Rockefeller in May as a managing director, opening the firm’s first Dallas office, according to a press release from the firm.

Armondo will oversee recruiting and manage the firm’s private wealth business in Texas, Colorado and other Southern Plains states, Rockefeller says.

Prior to joining Rockefeller, Armondo had been the greater Dallas market executive at Merrill Lynch for 16 years, according to the press release. He started at the wirehouse in 1994 as a wealth management advisor, Rockefeller says.

In addition, Michael Parker will join Rockefeller’s global family office as a managing director in New York, according to the press release. He will be tasked with recruiting and overseeing private wealth advisors in the Northeast, the company says.

Parker joins Rockefeller from RBC, where he was head of advisor recruiting, having joined the firm in 2017, according to the press release.

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He began his financial services career as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch in 1994 as well, and had stints at Citigroup, LPL and HighTower before coming to RBC, Rockefeller says.

Under Fleming, Rockefeller has poached numerous executives and financial advisors from rivals, including Rockefeller’s alma mater. At the end of 2018, Rockefeller nabbed a Merrill Lynch managing director to head its San Francisco office.

In January it added two experienced Merrill Lynch advisors in Atlanta, and in December picked up two advisors who managed $2.2 billion at UBS.